Chapter 3673: Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra

Lu Yin understood that, no matter how powerful the Nine Odysseys Megaverse might be, he had already reached a level of power where he was second only to Immortals. Even if he was not yet able to quite compare to Yue Ya and the other Lesser Sancti, he had already reached that same level of power. There was not much left for Lu Yin to learn.

Seeing that Lu Yin was deep in thought, Ru Guo said, “It appears that you have not yet decided specifically what you should ask. In that case, allow me to share what you should know.”

Lu Yin looked at the man, but he said nothing.

Ru Guo began, “The Nine Odysseys Megaverse is divided between the Greater Sancti and the Lesser Sancti. You’re already familiar with the Lesser Sancti. As for the Greater Sancti, there are currently three...”

While there was not much that Lu Yin needed to know, Ru Guo still spoke for a good half-day, providing Lu Yin with a general understanding of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

It must be said that the wonders of the universe’s development are inevitably accompanied by cruelty and ruthlessness. This was especially evident in both the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus, and it left Lu Yin deeply shaken.

It was possible that some of what Lu Yin heard was exaggerated. It was clear that Ru Guo wanted to instill a sense of danger in Lu Yin, yet there was no denying that certain events had indeed taken place. Lu Yin had personally witnessed everyone within several domains die, and the scene had sent chills down his spine. If the Tianyuan Megaverse were placed in a similar situation, such deaths would likewise be unavoidable.

Ru Guo did not just share information about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse but also the Ru family’s Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra.

Lu Yin was stunned. The Wayfinder Sutra was the Ru family’s core cultivation technique, and it had been created by Ru Shi himself.

Ru Shi had been a legendary figure. While he had ultimately been defeated by the High Seraph, that loss had not been due to any sort of inferiority on Ru Shi’s part. On the contrary, he had been too brilliant, or perhaps, too arrogant.

Cultivators trained with battle techniques, cultivation arts, innate gifts, weapons, and more. Despite that, Ru Shi had only trained in his self-created Wayfinder Sutra, abandoning everything else in hopes that his sutra alone would be able to raise him to the Immortal realm.

According to his theoretical calculations, Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra should have been capable of doing just that.

The High Seraph had seen the perfect opportunity to challenge Ru Shi. No matter how powerful the man’s sutra might be, even if it truly could allow one to reach the Immortal realm, as long as Ru Shi did not make that breakthrough, he would remain a Dukkhan. With just his sutra alone, the man had stood no chance of defeating the High Seraph.

The more arrogant the person, the more likely they were to die of it.

While recounting the incident, Ru Guo’s face fell, and his unwillingness to accept what had happened was clearly visible. “If my brother had just been given more time! As soon as he reached the final stage of mastery with his Wayfinder Sutra, the High Seraph would have not been his match. None of the Lesser Sancti would have.”

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes. “Why did you teach me Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra?”

It had been done too easily. Passing along such a supreme technique in the middle of a conversation? Not even Mister Mu had been so generous when teaching his own disciples.

Lu Yin had needed to ask to learn Origin Tracer before that had been shared with him.

Ru Guo gave a bitter laugh. “It’s nothing. Many people in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse know it. It’s been popularized.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “Popularized?”

Ru Guo met Lu Yin’s gaze. “Why do you think I was able to inherit my brother’s position as a Lesser Sancte? While the label was indeed regarded as temporary, as long as I stayed in Heavenspire, no one in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse could take that position from me. The only way would be the path that Yue Ya took, which was a tremendous risk.

“The destruction of my Ru family did not happen easily. Even a Lesser Sancte needed to pay a heavy price.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. “Because of Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra?”

Ru Guo nodded. “I offered the Wayfinder Sutra to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse in exchange to temporarily hold the title of Lesser Sancte. Within Heavenspire, there’s little difference between a temporary or an official title, as both give the same result. No one could replace me. The day I reach my brother’s cultivation level and am confident that I can claim the title outright, I’ll return to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and have the ‘temporary’ status be removed.

“To achieve all of this, I used my brother’s Wayfinder Sutra. I sold my brother’s legacy to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.”

Lu Yin did not know what to say. He could not judge if Ru Guo had made the right or wrong choice. If Lu Yin had been in the man’s shoes, would he have made the same choice? He could not be sure.

Everyone went through different experiences and bore different burdens. Lu Yin could not decide what was best for Ru Guo.

“Do you think I made the wrong choice?” Ru Guo asked, observing Lu Yin.

Lu Yin shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you were right or wrong. It’s already been done.”

Ru Guo sighed. “That’s true, I already did it. Just so you know, both the Nine Heavens Transformation and Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra have been popularized throughout the Nine Odysseys Megaverse. Now, don’t assume that ‘popularized’ is the same as ‘common.’ It’s actually just the opposite—anything that’s spread throughout the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, no matter if it’s a cultivation art or a battle technique—is nothing short of top-tier.”

Lu Yin was deeply shaken. The Nine Odysseys Megaverse truly existed on a different level.

He had personally experienced the incredible power of the Nine Heavens Transformation, and the Wayfinder Sutra had once granted its creator the confidence to strive for Immortality. The fact that both methods were “popularized” in the Nine Heavens Transformation would be unthinkable to the people of the Tianyuan Megaverse.

There had been a time when Aeternus had publicized the Corpse King Transformation, but that had been nothing more than an attempt to trick humankind. It had never been intended to actually strengthen the cultivators of the Tianyuan Megaverse.

The Tower of the Fifth existed to strengthen cultivators, but there were conditions to the tower. To begin with, all who gained power from the tower had to acknowledge Lu Yin as a half-master.

Lu Yin could not even begin to fathom where the Nine Odysseys Megaverse's confidence came from in allowing such powerful methods to be made publicly available. Was it due to the absolute confidence possessed by the Greater and Lesser Sancti?

In comparison, he felt that his own perspective was much narrower.

The truth was that this was not his fault. He had risen up from being weak, step by step. Only recently had he gained a level of power similar to the High Seraph’s. If Lu Yin had gained such power earlier, when he had been in the Tianyuan Megaverse, he might have also made certain that top-tier cultivation arts or battle techniques were made freely available to everyone.

If he managed to safely return to the Tianyuan Megaverse this time, he would definitely release powerful cultivation methods to elevate its overall strength.

In fact, Lu Yin already had many examples of such methods readily available: the Nine Heavens Transformation and the Wayfinder Sutra could both be shared.

This thought caused Lu Yin to instinctively look towards the boundary of the Spirit Nidus. He wanted to return home right away and make the techniques public. Doing so might even give birth to new prodigies.

Unaware of Lu Yin’s thoughts, Ru Guo continued to speak about the cultivation method of the Wayfinder Sutra: "The mind sits as it did at the beginning. When the heart moves, the body does not; when the body moves, the mind does not; when the mind moves, the spirit does not; when the spirit moves, the universe moves. These are the four realms of the Wayfinder Sutra.

"Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra: like a mountain, like my true intention, like sorrow and joy, like happiness, like the unity of heaven and earth, like hearing the approach..."

Lu Yin closed his eyes and simply listened. As Ru Guo’s voice drifted through the air, it felt as though the universe was contracting; a towering mountain was bearing down on him, only to abruptly expand to infinity. The darkness of the universe was both profound and distant. He could sense himself becoming the center of everything as he ceaselessly drew in the surrounding darkness, twisting and shaking the universe itself.

Ru Guo gaped at Lu Yin in astonishment. "Could he have entered the first realm so quickly?"

The four major realms of mastery in the Wayfinder Sutra could be cultivated, but whether one could truly comprehend them could only be intuitively understood. Everyone's understanding of the Wayfinder Sutra was different, as it depended on personal experiences and how one interpreted the sutra.

For Ru Guo, when he first began cultivating the Wayfinder Sutra, he had sensed an endless ocean, with himself being a lone reef. The moment he became the reef, he had entered the first realm. Gradually, that reef had developed a heart, which stirred with the wind. With the rain, seabirds had flown in, and schools of fish had swum by. The reef had longed to move, but that was impossible. It had been forced to merely observe, day after day, year after year, for countless years. Even when the ocean had dried up, the reef could only watch as the world changed around it. One day, the reef became capable of movement.

When its body could finally move, the reef looked across the dry land where a warm sea breeze had once blown across it. The ocean was entirely gone, and the reef could only continue waiting for the world to change again.

But that change never came. The reef grew numb, sealing its heart away. Countless years passed, and eventually, that heart stirred once more. Since the world had refused to change, the reef decided to force it to change. Why wait?

Thus, the reef moved once again, this time determined to reshape the world into what it had been eons ago...

From the first realm, Ru Guo had trained until he entered "when the heart moves, the body does not," and then to "when the body moves, the mind does not." Just that had taken him an incredibly long time. After reaching the peak of the second realm, he had found it hard to progress any further. The reef had become like the dried-up ocean itself, incapable of truly altering the world.

On the other hand, just by listening to Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra, Lu Yin had already entered the first realm. It was no wonder why he was so powerful despite his youth.

Ru Guo had never before witnessed such talent.

Slowly, Lu Yin opened his eyes. He was truly amazed. The Wayfinder Sutra had induced an entirely different state of being with him at the center of the universe. The technique was vast and profound, and it emphasized comprehension over mere power. In that way, it was similar to the Origin Progenitor’s Sutra, though it had its own distinctions.

The Origin Progenitor’s Sutra guided all creatures, helping them mend their flaws. On the other hand, Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra promoted personal enlightenment.

“Your brother was a genius. Given enough time, he may have well gone much further,” Lu Yin commented with admiration.

“That’s possible,” Ru Guo agreed, though his voice held a hint of bitterness.

“So, is the Wayfinder Sutra intended to be your compensation for attacking

Boundless

?” Lu Yin asked.

Ru Guo nodded. “Are you satisfied, Seraph Lu?”

“

Boundless

does not consist of me alone.”

“I have already given you Ru Shi's Wayfinder Sutra. Whoever else learns it has nothing to do with me.”

Lu Yin sighed. “It seems that you have truly let go.”

Ru Guo gave a slight smile. “I won’t proceed much further now. If the day comes when someone else succeeds in surpassing my brother’s progress with his Wayfinder Sutra, or even becomes an Immortal, he would be thrilled.”

Lu Yin agreed. “Let’s hope so.”

“Is there anything else you’d like to know, Seraph Lu?” Ru Guo asked.

Lu Yin clasped his hands behind his back. “Why don’t you just tell me how you want me to help? You’ve given me a lot already, and I’m worried that I won’t be able to repay you.”

Ru Guo smiled. “Repayment isn’t necessary. If you don’t want to help, I won’t insist.”

Lu Yin looked up at the stars. “You people from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse certainly don’t do things in half-measures... Much like how you’ve enslaved the Spirit Nidus.”

Ru Guo fell silent.

The truth regarding the relationship between the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and the Spirit Nidus was difficult for anyone to accept when they first learned of it, yet it remained the truth.

“What is Heavenspire?” Lu Yin asked. Since Ru Guo was offering more information, Lu Yin saw no harm in asking.

“It’s similar to Beacon City,” Ru Guo replied.

Lu Yin arched a brow and looked back at Ru Guo.

“Since

Boundless

came here from the Tianyuan Megaverse, you should know about Beacon City’s significance. Heavenspire is basically the same concept. One can reach the Nine Odysseys Megaverse via Heavenspire, though the distance is nowhere near as great as that between the Spirit Nidus and the Tianyuan megaverses. Given our levels, it would only take us a few days,” Ru Guo explained.

“Is Heavenspire a parallel universe of some sort?”

Ru Guo shook his head. “It’s simply a place in the Aevum Inch. Why do you ask about this, Seraph Lu?”

Lu Yin looked away.

So it isn’t the Lesser Spirit Megaverse?

If Ru Guo was not lying, then Yuan Qi most likely had not been lying either. After all, the High Seraph himself had never denied anything. Given what Lu Yin was learning now, the High Seraph had to be the origin of the lie.

Lu Yin’s suspicions were growing stronger. The High Seraph had exiled Yuan Qi with the excuse that he had learned about the Lesser Spirit Megaverse, but why?

That was the crucial question.

It was also clear that Lu Yin would not get the answer from Ru Guo.